Tiger of Kai Arc
The fifth arc in the series. The Miyoshi Three have been dealt with for now but the Azai-Asakura Alliance remains strong, however, with the Tiger of Kai finally baring down upon them the Oda Army can not concentrate solely on this threat. Worst of all, in what may be their darkest hour, Nobuna banishes Yoshiharu to Ise to negotiate with her retainer Kazumasu Takigawa, who doesn't seem to be responding to Nobuna's orders. Plot Mitsuhide's Wedding Nobusumi speaks to Yoshiharu about his current depression, however, since he promised not to reveal Nagamasa's true gender, Yoshiharu thinks he's upset about having to be married to "him" rather than being taken away from her. Nobusumi considers going over to Nobuna, however he is talked down by the knowledge that Takeda Shingen is starting to make a move. Nobuna would have to stay in Kyoto to deal with the Azai-Asakura Alliance, thus leaving Saitou Dousan to fight in Owari and Mino and protect them from Shingen. Nobusumi, knowing Nobuna and Yoshiharu's feelings, decides he'll go and lecture his sister about her feelings. Yoshiharu grows suspicious and asks Goemon if she knows what's going on, Goemon, having been told by Nobusumi to stay quiet, ends up biting her tongue, when she's teased about this by Yoshiharu she hides herself away. Nene and Hanbei then rush outside to tell Yoshiharu something's weird about Mitsuhide. Mitsuhide then appears, wearing wedding attire, and calling Yoshiharu her husband affectionately. She throws Nene and Hanbei into the nearby pool and Yoshiharu questions her about the fact she's wearing clothes fit for a wedding, he asks her if she's going to marry someone. Mitsuhide immediately notes that, by Nobuna’s order(to take care of Yoshiharu), she is going to marry him, she has apparently even formed plans for a love nest at the top of the castle she's building wherein only the two of them will be permitted to enter. Yoshiharu faints, foaming from the mouth from a combination of confusion and shock. Nobuna's Rage when Inuchiyo comes to tell Nobuna about Nobusumi's arrival she finds that Nobuna is still brooding over Nagamasa's betrayal and Yoshiharu's actions towards Katsuie(when Katsuie insisted he claim his reward from her and touch her chest), However, what enrages her more is that even after she denied him both his rewards because of it, he has apparently not voiced an argument or even paid attention to her since, even in meetings. Inuchiyo calms her down and tells her her brother wants to meet her. Nobusumi enters alongside Katsuie(who is still ranting about killing "Saru") and Nagahide, and then starts talking about love, even mentioning in part due to his relationship with Nagamasa. This causes Nobuna to worry that in sending her brother off as a princess to marry Nagamasa, she might have made him genuinely fall in love with another man(again, she has no idea Nagamasa is a woman). Nobusumi then calls Nobuna out, noting that she has finally gone too far in her treatment of Yoshiharu due to her consistant inability to accept that she's in love with him. Nobusumi then outright tells her to go to Yoshiharu, Nagahide and Inuchiyo litterally drag her away, meanwhile Katsuie, who Nobuna calls out to, is shown to be too lost in her own emotions to do anything about it. Yoshiharu awakens to find Nobuna, enraged by his apparent wedding to Juubei, standing over him, when he tries to explain that Juubei believes Nobuna ordered it, and Juubei seemingly confirms this, she briefly calms down, until Juubei implies they had "locked lips and had a very naked intimite moment," at which point her rage only escalates(she kissed Yoshiharu to revive him and then kept him warm with her body in the Retreat from Kanegasaki, so Juubei's telling the truth, but she makes it sound like something quite different.) Following their argument, Nobuna demotes Yoshiharu, takes his subordinates for her own and banishes him to Ise to serve under Sakon. Nagahide and Yoshiharu both dissagree with this, as the timing and reason for his banishment is worth even less that 0 points in the former's eyes, but Nobuna refuses to listen to any form of reason and carries out her tyrany. Pirates of Ise Yoshiharu arrives in Ise on Hanbei's advice, as according to her Nobuna, no matter how angry, would never banish him just because of a fit of anger, instead, it seems more likely that she wants him to pursuade Takigawa Kazumasu, who had not become a retainer of Nobuna by choice, to stop any attempts at rebellion she might be plotting due to her lack of responses to Nobuna's orders. When he sinally enters Shima, Yoshiharu is suddenly abducted, on the spot, but a band of female pirates. Yoshiharu wakes up on a boat in front of the pirate's leader, a woman named Kuki Yoshitaka. When she requests to know who Yoshiharu is and why he is there, Kuki's comrades note that she drove away most of the males with her pirate band and should worry about her marriage. A girl they address as "Hime" notes they should ignore that and focus on finding out who the "Saru-like person" is before executing him. this Hime turns out to be Takigawa Kazumasu herself, to whom Yoshitaka swore her loyalty. Kazumasu quickly figures out that Yoshiharu was sent by Nobuna. Just before Kuki executes Yoshiharu, he reveals his name to them, causing the girls to refrain from executing him. When he asks for reinforcements and notes the Oda Clan's current situation, Kazumasu refuses, when she finds that Yoshiharu is immune to her charms she has him untied and agrees that she might send reinforcements if Ise is completely conquered, so she sends Yoshiharu to deal with the last enemy that seems to be immune to her charms. Ise Spanish Isle The Kuki pirates take Yoshiharu to a Spanish occupied island, which apparently they have renamed "Ise Spanish Isle" because it's previous name "Ghost Isle" was too scary. They point out a knight in golden armour who they can't even fight because they tremble in fear whever they see said armour. The pirates force him to duel said knight, who introduces herself as Giovanna L'Ortese of the St.John Knights. She accepts Yoshiharu's challenge, splitting his sword in half instantly. When he refuses to surrender she decides to instead have to hit him until he does. Their duel is then interruped by the arrival of Organtino, who invites Yoshiharu and the pirates in to talk. The Kuki Pirates pretty much urge their boss to marry Organtino, immediately having been conquered by his appearance, however, being a missionary, he turns that down. Giovanna then removes her helmet, conceding that if she had defeated Yoshiharu in the situation he was placed in she'd have shamed herself as a knight, Yoshiharu however notes she'd already proven herself by fighting him fairly. She then properly introduces herself to him and offers to grant him one wish as payment, he ultimately ends up asking her to join the Oda Army. Takigawa then introduces herself to Organtino and uses her ability to see if he can be trusted, which she finds he can. Later everyone gathers around Organtino's table to eat and talk, wherein Yoshiharu reveals he came from the future, but can't bring himself to answer Organtino's question about whether the missionaries succeed in bringing christianity to Japan(short answer, given the order-eager christians and closed off Japanese at the time, is no, they were practically slaughtered and forced out). Kazumasu agrees to send reinforcements to fight Takeda's army, if Yoshiharu will let her use her ability on him after the battle(by touching a person's forehead and asking a question that person is compelled to answer and cannot lie about it), Organtino offers to help, as he has heard that Nobuna treats missionaries well, but he notes that they can only use their large merchant allies' ships to bluff the enemy and cannot fight. Yoshiharu thus sets out to face the Takeda Army. Continuity and Conclusions *Because of Nobusumi's romantic ideals that have formed since meeting Nagamasa, everyone except Hanbei and Goemon, who know Nagamasa's true, female, gender, assume he has fallen in love with another man. Nagahide quotes however that for whatever reason, the current Nobusumi is much more mature than the one that was first sent to Nagamasa. *Nobuna's relationship with Yoshiharu finally progresses openly. according to Nobusumi Nobuna has gone too far due to her lack of honesty causing her to deny Yoshiharu his rewards, he also laments their difference in status. Later, when she tries to rectify the situation, she only finds another misunderstanding and makes the situation even worse by banishing him and taking the Sagara Corps members as her own subordinates. Finally, when Nobuna is very nearly raped outright by Asakura Yoshikage, Yoshiharu defends her and loudly declares her his woman, this instance, alongside the death of Saitou Dousan, who has become sick and tired of Nobuna's consistant denial, causes them to finally accept their feelings for each other. **This causes something of a love triangle, since Mitsuhide's feelings are also open. Mitsuhide even tries to marry Yoshiharu right at the start, something she had been planning on since the end of the previous Arc, and has plans to turn the top of her castle into a Love Nest. Mitsuhide is even the cause of Yoshiharu's banishment, not that she realises this. *It's not really even worth pointing out how historically absurd it is for a Knight Templar to appear in Sengoku Period Japan. **Giovanna notes the history of the St.John templar Knights, who have proudly defending from invasion by the Ottoman Empire for 200 years, she notes she's a descendant of these knights. Yoshiharu rather correctly questions the history of such a group even existing in his world. *** However, the Knights of St. John are another name for the Knights Hospitallers, a different order than the Knights Templar. Following the collapse of the crusaders states, the Knight Hospitallers evolved to a naval power based first in Rhodes then Malta. In the late 16th Century, the Knight Hospitallers were known for protecting Christian shipping in the Mediterranean from pirates and the Ottoman navy. Some knights during that time did serve in foreign navies, particularly the French. It would not be impossible for one or two members of the Hospitaller to have reached Japan while serving on a Portuguese or Spanish ship. Arc Navigation Characters Trivia Category:Story arcs